1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a control for an intelligent network and, in particular, to call handling in a telecommunications network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technology of intelligent networks (abbreviated herein as IN) is a known technology which has introduced into many networks for controlling call handling in a telecommunications network. Such telecommunication networks may include narrow band networks such as PSTN/ISDN (Public Switched Telephone Network/Integrated Services Digital Network) or broadband networks such as BB-ISDN/ATM (Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network/Asynchronous Transfer Mode). In a telecommunications network, a service control point SCP assumes the control of the following functions at every intelligent network call, for example:
determining the destination route and the destination call number depending on the source, the time of day, the call distribution at the processing locations, etc.; PA0 determining the billing and charging; PA0 controlling the network access for authorized users, including use of billing cards and virtual private networks VPN. PA0 1) The connections in the narrowband network NB-ISDN and the intelligent network IN functions in the service control point SCP are transparent for Internet applications. The narrowband network NB-ISDN only offers access via bearer channels to the actual router for known Internet protocols IP or to a server directly at the network, as shown in, for example, at a server A2. This also applies for broadband ATM networks by analogy. The routing of connections cannot be optimized for the Internet access. When, for example, access to the server A2 is desired, but the connection is set up to the router A1, the Internet Protocol IP packets are transferred over the potentially slow Local Area Networks/Wide Area Network LAN/WAN. A direct ISDN connection to the server A2 would be desirable. PA0 2) The billing in the narrowband access network NB-ISDN is decoupled from the Internet. Combined billing is not possible. PA0 3) Extensive security measures must be provided in the Internet servers since the access to the Internet services via the public narrowband network NB-ISDN is open to everyone. PA0 4) Internet domain addresses indicate the individual Internet applications on the Internet. The domain addresses must be converted into corresponding Internet protocol IP addresses according to the Internet norm (and vice versa). The know conversion method in the Internet is realized by use of a domain name server DNS. The address conversion in the domain name server DNS is initiated by the Internet Protocol IP routers and servers.
An increasing number of Internet users use PSTN/ISDN (Public Switched Telephone Network/Integrated Services Digital Network) networks and, later, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks as access networks to Internet services, in other words to access applications on the servers of the Internet service providers.
A known arrangement for Internet access is shown in FIG. 1 which uses for example a narrowband network, such as a narrowband ISDN (which is abbreviated here as NB-ISDN). In the Internet access arrangement as shown in FIG. 1, the network has the following disadvantages: